Lift Truck Tips: Mobile computers react to mounting demands

When the concept of a forklift-mounted computer emerged, it was accompanied by a keyboard, separate battery and a better power conversion device specific to electric or propane, each of which had to be precisely and permanently integrated. Then, you had to manage, upgrade and optimize the operating systems. According to Ron D’Ambrosio, president and CEO of Glacier Computer, a single touchscreen terminal now houses all of these elements, but to address the hardware specs alone barely scratches the surface.

“The newest VMT technology is made to collect equipment and safety data from a vehicle management system, inventory and operational data from a warehouse management system, and any other PC-driven processes that the enterprise requires,” D’Ambrosio says. “Then it must not only disseminate that information, but provide the flexibility to orient the data to a variety of departments within the enterprise. This is the ‘Intelligent Forklift.’”